A: In room 29, a door to room 17 is hidden upside-down to look like a
table. Notice that the two leftmost candlesticks are not connected to
the stand. In addition, the two candles for those sticks are casting
shadows back toward the fool, away from the lit candle on the stand.
This is also hinted at in the first room by the two banners on the
ground, nearest the entryway. They contain the words "Go" & "17."

Using this door it is clear that there is a 16-step path through the Maze:
1 26 30 42 4 29 17 45 23 8 12 39 4 15 37 20 1.

Several of the rooms have unnumbered exits, but the destinations of these
exits can all be deduced. For example, room 36 has four exits, of which only
two are numbered (7 and 16). But four rooms (7, 16, 26, and 45) have exits
marked 36. Therefore the two unmarked exits in room 36 must lead to rooms 26
and 45. By similar logic, the unmarked exit in room 21 must lead to room 1.

Or if we prefer never to revisit a room, there is this unique shortest

path

1 26 36 45 19 31 21 1

It is unclear whether the author intended for the unmarked doors to be an
alternate solution. Since we have no direct statements from Christopher
Manson on the subject, we can only speculate on his intentions based
upon indirect evidence. Such speculation is inherently risky.

While Manson went to the trouble of making sure that as many doors
leave a room as enter a room, this fact alone is not conclusive. Did
Manson intend for the unmarked doors to be one directional? Why state
that there is a sixteen step path, and set up door 17 as the only way
to achieve this path, if unmarked doors could be used? Did Manson set
up the unmarked doors to reward people for questioning the assumption
that only marked doors can be used? Such questions cannot be resolved
without further information from the author.

The year after the book was initially published, VENTURA ASSOCIATES, INC. a
fulfillment house retained by the publisher provided the following
additional clues to those who wrote to them requesting a solution.

(quoting)

Each of the additional clues below applies to one word of the riddle

to be found in room #45 of MAZE

1. I'll tip my hat if the two of you can solve this.
2. You can get into these two shoes only if you don't go anywhere.
3. You will find two names on the table, and they go together like doughnut and hole.
4. You must choose between two pictures.
5. There are no two ways you can read this sign.
6. You can see that another two pictures demonstrate their own kind of symmetry.

(end quote)

The various components of room 45, put together properly produce the
following question:

On the table, there are a row of up ended logs and a poster with a
shaking spear and a ideographic sun. These can be interpreted as "wood
row Will's son" or Woodrow Wilson. A quote attributed to President
Wilson is: "Without God, the world would be a maze without a clue"

Beginning at the first room of the path, a hint can be phrased:

"Like Atlas, you bear it upon your shoulders."

1: Like is written backwards on the banner hanging near the entryway.
26: salt + A = Atlas
30: From text, "Why 'O' & 'U'?" = You
42: A Bear is the main feature of this room.
4: The holes and pegs are a form of intelligence test, abbr. I.T. alternately, the torches are I's and the gavel is a T
29: up + on = Upon
17: Why + Oh + You + Are = Your
skip room 45
23: Taken from the text is the word "shoulder" to which we add the S from room 8. This is not entirely satisfying, because the next rooms do a good job of providing most of the letters, but not in quite the right order.
8: S
12: U D
39: R and on the tire O
4: "ELL" in maze on wall spells L
15: hat, hare, heart, helmet, house, hero all start with H
37: sphere, bottle, vase, cone, dice all end with E (clued in text)
20: S

The acceptable answers were "The World, Earth, or Globe."

Scott Purdy wrote the earlier version of this answer and thanked
Andrew C. Plotkin for the information provided by the publisher and
Narciso Jaramillo for his assistance in determining the reasons for
several statements. Chris Mc Manus proposed the 8 room path through the
Maze. John Bailey located the Woodrow Wilson quote.

Web pages at http://home.rochester.rr.com/jbxroads/maze/ contain additional
contributions speculating on the identity of the guide or host through the
Maze and additional observations as to hints and clues found in the rooms.

Owner: "68.163.141.29" Last edited on July 17, 2005 11:17 am by "68.163.141.29"